I'm just getting over a jet lag cold, so I'm sitting outside our charming little cottage re-creating a scene from European films - the one where the frail and elderly person (that would be me) sits catatonically in the sun in the bountiful green garden of the sanitarium, surrounded by birdsong.
The birds here in Normandy are profuse and musical - I hear sounds that I've heard nowhere else, from the easily recognizable (the cuckoo - duh) to intricate melodies that never sound the same twice.... it's magical.
We were certainly busy today doing nothing - here's the rundown:
8:00 Roll over and decide that since the sun has been shining in the window since 6:00, it's time to get up. We always know what time it is, since the church bell in the village tolls every 15 minutes - such a reassuring sound. Make coffee, heat milk, warm croissants, cut melon, open yogurt. We suffered a minor crisis this week, as madame who runs the bakery in Gue de la Chaine is on vacation until Sunday -as a result of which we have to eat croissants and baguettes that were baked the day before, rather than walking down the street and getting them straight from the oven... the things we have to endure.
9:30 After lazy, leisurely breakfast, get dressed and take the car a couple of kilometers to Belleme, where it's market day! No one recognizes us yet, since we haven't been around long, but in the past we've been acknowledged by the townspeople after we've been in town a week or so... usually because we're the only people who ever use the town tennis courts. We buy a kilo of fresh spring peas, 4 of the smallest, sweetest, most delicious melons on earth (the lady at the market threw in an extra one for me because it had a blemish on the side) and pork tenderloin.
12:00 Shell peas. This has been one of my favorite tasks since childhood, but it's taking a little longer today since Dick has taken to photographing all our food - he can't resist because everything is so beautiful.
1:00 Soup for lunch, made with local sausage and veggies - of course, we have photos of that, too! Then a nap - it's been an exhausting day so far.
2:30 Depart for the Controle Technique in Mortagne to get M&J's car registered. Controle Technique is kind of a combo road test/smog test that one's car must pass each year. When we went to the CT office a couple of days ago, the gentleman at the desk told me that "we must make a rendezvouz". I thought "Well, he's really not my type, but this is France, after all, and if that's what I have to do to get the car registered..." Then realized that a rendez - vouz is an appointment. Whew! I made a rendez-vouz for today, and here we are. My potential date fills out a computer form, drives the car, looks under the hood - all the while Dick is pacing around the office muttering "this sucker better pass" - dreading the thought of having to go to the local garage and explain any needed repairs. But no worries - Monsieur returns, all smiles, with the appropriate stickers, handshakes all around. 65 Euros later, we're on the road again!
4:00 Check email and French Open Draw - I can hardly stand to look at that awful Robin Soderling's name. I can't believe he knocked Rafa out of the tournament -too upsetting, must have a drink.
5:00 Wine in the garden and back to the sanitarium scene. Sheep next door are bleating away - must be dinner time - and the white cattle out in the pasture look as lazy as I do. That's all for now... must rest.
So we watched Federer win this morning thinking about you both. The thermostat has been turned up in Texas -- yikes. Another summer here. We love the photo of Cathy in the tennis fan crowd. And Dick looking every bit the artist. And all of the photos and the writing. What a treat as we sit under AC on a hot Sunday afternoon in Texas. And, no we have not seceded from the Union. But Gov. Rick keeps threatening. If we did, we might be doing the rest of States a gigantic favor. Be safe. We love you.
ReplyDeleteNick and Andrea